Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not all heroes wear capes.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I was promised a recession.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

T R E 4 5 O N

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Evening Open Thread: The NRA Tries A Strategic Retreat

Friday Evening Open Thread: The NRA Tries A Strategic Retreat

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Per the AP:

The National Rifle Association announced Friday it has filed for bankruptcy protection and will seek to incorporate the nation’s most politically influential gun-rights group in Texas instead of New York.

The announcement made on the NRA’s website comes months after New York’s attorney general sued the organization over claims that top executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts for associates and other questionable expenditures.

The coronavirus pandemic has also upended the NRA, which last year laid off dozens of employees, canceled its national convention and scuttled fundraising. The NRA’s bankruptcy filing listed between $100 million and $500 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. Still, the NRA claimed in announcing the move that the organization was “in its strongest financial condition in years.”

The NRA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Dallas and said it planned to incorporate in Texas, where records show it formed a limited liability corporation, Sea Girt LLC, in November 2020. Sea Girt LLC made a separate bankruptcy filing Friday, listing fewer than $100,000 in liabilities.

“The move will enable long-term, sustainable growth and ensure the NRA’s continued success as the nation’s leading advocate for constitutional freedom – free from the toxic political environment of New York,” the NRA said in a statement…

MAH FREEDUMBS!!1!! He’s not even bothering to pretend it’s about gunsports any more…

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott quickly welcomed the news, tweeting: “Welcome to Texas — a state that safeguards the 2nd Amendment.” The NRA said it has more than 400,000 members in Texas and plans to hold its annual convention in Houston later this year.

I believe most of the day-to-day corporate leadership still works out of the DC suburbs (spiritual home of all lobbyist organizations), so it’s mostly kabuki at this point anyways. Due sympathy to all decent Texans, still.

Speaking of weasel words, here’s a masterpiece of the genre:

We’ve been crippling the organization with our relentless greed for years, and hope to continue for years yet to come!

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  2. 2.

    debbie

    When NPR reported this, they included a clip of Leticia James questioning the veracity of the NRA’s claim of bankruptcy.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    I read on the other thread that the NY AG has to approve the move of the organization to TX.  Fat chance!

    Boy, I hope that’s true.  please please please

  4. 4.

    RepubAnon

    Given that the NRA probably can’t dissolve to escape the New York Attorney General’s office investigating their misdeeds, things could get interesting

    If the bankruptcy court lets the NRA escape, it’ll be a path for all corrupt charities.

  8. 8.

    Scout211

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/statement.html

    Speaking of legal issues, Dominion’s lawyers are getting things done:

    We received a lengthy letter from Dominion’s defamation lawyers explaining why they believe that their client has been the victim of defamatory statements.  Having considered the full import of the letter, we have agreed to their request that we publish the following statement:

    American Thinker and contributors Andrea Widburg, R.D. Wedge, Brian Tomlinson, and Peggy Ryan have published pieces on http://www.AmericanThinker.com that falsely accuse US Dominion Inc., Dominion Voting Systems, Inc., and Dominion Voting Systems Corporation (collectively “Dominion”) of conspiring to steal the November 2020 election from Donald Trump. These pieces rely on discredited sources who have peddled debunked theories about Dominion’s supposed ties to Venezuela, fraud on Dominion’s machines that resulted in massive vote switching or weighted votes, and other claims falsely stating that there is credible evidence that Dominion acted fraudulently.

    These statements are completely false and have no basis in fact. Industry experts and public officials alike have confirmed that Dominion conducted itself appropriately and that there is simply no evidence to support these claims.

    It was wrong for us to publish these false statements. We apologize to Dominion for all of the harm this caused them and their employees. We also apologize to our readers for abandoning 9 journalistic principles and misrepresenting Dominion’s track record and its limited role in tabulating votes for the November 2020 election. We regret this grave error. 

  11. 11.

    CaseyL

    An NRA convention in Texas, among unmasked and uninhibited gun nuts – even one “later this year” when, presumably everyone will be vaccinated?  One can hope for any number of fatalities, from any number of causes.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    free from the toxic political environment of New York

    IOW, in a jurisdiction with a suitably corrupt Attorney General.  If that’s the goal, it’s obvious why Texas is the go-to place.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211:

    We regret this grave error.  

    We regret that you are suing the shit out of us and we are hoping against hope that by posting the groveling letter that you so graciously supplied to us, that perhaps there will be something left of the burning pile of rubble that we expect we will be when you get done with us.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    I don’t think it was the pandemic that led to massive looting by the upper ranks and accompanying lawsuits. I mean, I suppose it’s possible that COVID-19 has a side effect of inducing a severe case of Conservative Griftosis, but I’m not aware of any documented evidence to that effect in the medical literature.

  16. 16.

    LurkerNoLonger

    Go and run off to crazy land, NRA, but not before you have every last dime sucked up by the state of NY. Fucking evil fucks.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    I read that the NRA hit a turning point in the 1970s. Some leading members wanted to check the organization’s involvement in politics, and return it to the original mission of teaching marksmanship and firearms safety. They proposed moving the NRA headquarters to Colorado,away from DC. But Wayne LaPierre’s crowd won the power struggle, and the organization went downhill from there. There is a lot more money to be made in politics.

  20. 20.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Shorter: the election propaganda has developed not necessarily to American Thinker’s advantage

  22. 22.

    Poe Larity

    @Scout211: They also shut down comments:

    All of us who work here agree that the choice was binary: shut down the comments or shut down the site. Or to use an analogy, amputate the limb or watch the patient die. Looked at from that perspective, there really was no choice.

  25. 25.

    JMG

    I had all sorts of marksmanship badges from the NRA I earned in summer camp — in 1960 and 1961.

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    While we review its bankruptcy filing, we will not allow the @NRA to use this or any other tactic to evade accountability and my office’s oversight.

    Fucking get ’em, woman.

    Although…if the NRA ever did wither away to nothing, I shudder to think of the new organizations that would crop up in its wake. Imagine some of those knuckle-dragging fuckers from 1/6 starting a “new NRA.” Of course, if they’re in jail, I suppose that would be difficult.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I guess 12:01 pm is technically considered afternoon.  :-)

    I’m right there with you.  Pretty sure they talked about that on Josh Barro / PopeHat podcast, too.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @Scout211:

    Speaking of legal issues, Dominion’s lawyers are getting things done

    I love this. Trump supporters, of course, are deep into their own alternate universe.

    They assert that Trump and his enablers have a First Amendment right to say whatever crazy shit they want to say.  They are oblivious to the idea that there might ever be consequences to talking crazy shit.

  33. 33.

    Ivan X

    I feel as though James’ statement have more power if she didn’t speak like a politician and call them morally bankrupt. Not that that isn’t plainly obvious to anyone but the most blinkered, but as an AG I sort of expect more neutral language in which the facts, or legal arguments, speak for themselves.

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    @Alison Rose: There are already some gun groups that were set up by people who thought the NRA weren’t avid enough in their pursuit of profits-for-gunmakers.

  35. 35.

    Geminid

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Regarding the man featured in the article you link, today “Socialist Dog Mom” Molly Conger retweeted a couple long threads put up by West Coast antifascists. They had John Sullivan pegged months ago as a liar, provocateur, and grifter.

  36. 36.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Ivan X: This is why we can’t have nice things.  Do-gooders want to bring a well crafted dialectic to a gun fight.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @p.a.:

    That Republican women’s group paid for hotel rooms; Ginnie Thomas paid for buses to transport the terrorists to D.C.; the Republican Attorney Generals Association also ponied up; etc. It all seems to be pretty out in the open.

  44. 44.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Interesting. They found one guy who looks like he just enjoys riots and has shown up at left events too.

    Odd that they appear to be charging him more heavily than the rightwing thugs.

  46. 46.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Just Some Fuckhead: “Yes, they had specific plans and where chanting “Hang Pence” and were discussing how to kill Nancy Pelosi. But the fact is, these were good men and women who just got swept up in the moment.”

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    @Bill Arnold

    Politico is being dangerously lazy</blockquote.

    I'm shocked, shocked. Bunch of cliquish clickbait wankers, armchair weathervanes and shallow scribblers of pseudo-sagacity.

    I believe the only reason they settled on Politico was because titsonabull.com must have been already taken.

    ;)

  51. 51.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I really like Congressman Brendan Boyle. I hate that he looks like a Comey clone. I bet he hates that too.

  52. 52.

    PPCLI

    @lamh36: Sweet!! I’m not a lawyer, but I figured (and hoped) that there must be some way to create a Georgia state offense out of trying to coerce someone in Georgia to do something illegal, even if the person doing it was on a phone call from out of state.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-capitol-plot/no-direct-evidence-of-plot-to-kidnap-or-kill-lawmakers-in-u-s-capitol-attack-justice-department-official-idUSKBN29K2FL

    Not completely backing down yet, just declaring no “direct evidence of kill capture teams.”  That leaves quite a bit of wiggle room for individual plans and circumstantial evidence of both individual and teams.

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Justice Department official on Friday said there is currently no direct evidence of efforts to capture or assassinate lawmakers in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
    “We don’t have any direct evidence of kill capture teams,” said Michael Sherwin, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, in a press conference with reporters.

  55. 55.

    Immanentize

    @Scout211: Translation by a lawyer:

    OK, we admit we are liable for damages for our repeated defamation, so let’s just argue about that.  And by admitting we are liable, we really hope to avoid huge punative damages.  But we understand we are already on the hook for your attorney’s fees.

  56. 56.

    RobNYNY

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:  It can be a cash flow problem, not a problem of obligations exceeding assets. You can have piles of illiquid 30-year bonds in the vault, but in the meantime you need to pay your debts as they come due.

  58. 58.

    danielx

    From the fevered brain of Gary Abernathy, WP op-ed columnist:
    If Biden really wants to unify the country, here’s the olive branch he must extend to conservatives
    Biden doesn’t have to extend anything to people who want to – at best – frustrate his every initiative, and at worst want to kill him.

    Fuck a bunch of olive branches. To paraphrase Rick Wilson, they’re not being banned because of their conservative views, they’re banned because they are evil shitbags,

  59. 59.

    hueyplong

    @danielx: How did it go when WSJ suggested that Trump offer a cluster of olive branches to the Democrats in Jan 2017? In all the  excitement, I’ve completely forgotten.

  62. 62.

    MisterForkbeard

    @danielx: The “olive branch” he wants to just for Biden to say that BLM is just as bad as the Capitol Insurrectionists and just as egged on by the Democratic Party, who approved of the violence and so on. Oh, and because it went on longer it’s probably worse, but BOTH SIDES GUYS

    He also takes the time to say that Goebbels “Big Lie” quote is just like marketing. Goebbels was just like people today selling good toothpaste y’all! (Yes, this is an analogy he actually uses)

    Gag.

  63. 63.

    Geminid

    @Bill Arnold: The New York Post did not bite on John Sullivan’s story. In the lead paragraph of their story today, they describe Sullivan as “a former Olympic speed skater- and alleged conman accused of sabotaging leftwing movements under the name ‘Activist John’.” The article goes on to say that Sullivan’s brother has his own right wing movement and has spoken at Proud Boys events. The Post quoted west coast antifa sources who accused “Activist John” of playing a double game. He definitely was seen egging on the rioters at the Capitol.

  66. 66.

    kindness

    When I was a kid, the NRA wasn’t a crazy right wing gun industry promotion group.  I mean sure there were probably right wingers in it then but it promoted marksmanship and gun safety and responsible use of guns.  Then it went all to hell.  I’m happy they’re bankrupt.  I hope which ever judge oversees the case rules wisely in the case.  Lawyers will get most the remaining assets I bet.

  68. 68.

    catclub

    @hueyplong: How did it go when WSJ suggested that Trump offer a cluster of olive branches to the Democrats in Jan 2017? In all the excitement, I’ve completely forgotten.

     

    Only a little worse than GWBush governing as a barely elected President in 2001

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    @Roger Moore:

    If I’m reading Section 362(b)(4) of the bankruptcy code correctly, the filing doesn’t stop enforcement actions by state agencies, and I know for certain that section 362(b)(9) doesn’t shut down tax audits.

  71. 71.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: It’s early yet in the capitol prosecution timeline. I personally don’t approve of fast prosecutions. Get the facts together before you upend peoples’ lives. But IANAL.

  72. 72.

    JML

    as scary as some of the new gun nut groups that would appear if the NRA finally goes down, that kind of splintering would go a long way toward breaking the power of the gun lobby. Politicians still fear the power of the NRA beyond their ability to actually exert it; they remain a boogeyman and their imprimatur still has power among low information voters. If you splinter that amongst 3-5 groups all competing for primacy, none of them will have anywhere near the same level of influence. Breaking these corrupt scumbags has major value.

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